


i'll love you a lifetime

by onward



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, Growing Up Together, Introspection, Love Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 20:49:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16751293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onward/pseuds/onward
Summary: Three times Haru and Makoto say 'I love you,' from firsts to new beginnings to late summer nights when the world is still and they're alone with each other.





	i'll love you a lifetime

**Author's Note:**

> me, after three years of not posting free! works: i've abandoned my boys
> 
> in all seriousness, it's so good to be back! major shoutout to the [Makoharu Flash Bang](http://makoharubigbang.tumblr.com/) for hosting this event that gave me the motivation to get back into writing these two! this fic is accompanied by some amazing artwork from [isuzu-mikoshiba](https://isuzu-mikoshiba.tumblr.com/), i'll link to it as soon as they put it up!
> 
> i hope you all enjoy it!!

The first time they say it, it’s late one afternoon in the summer before their second year of high school. They go back to school in a few days, but instead of worrying over their classes, their assignments, or their futures, the two of them have opted to sit quietly at Haru’s house, in the room where the doors slide open to reveal the view of the seaside and the setting summer sun. They’re both sitting where indoors meets outside, the grass on their feet and their hands on the hardwood floor, doors wide open to let in the sunlight and the sweet smell of blooming flowers. Makoto’s hand is close to Haru’s, both of their hands resting close enough so that Haru would only have to move his fingers a few inches for them to touch. 

The sun is low enough in the sky that it’s starting to change the light of Iwatobi, bathing their seaside town in shades of golden yellow. The ocean sparkles and seagulls cry and fly by overhead, but instead of watching the view, Haru looks at Makoto. 

Makoto’s expression is serene, content and beautiful as he watches the summer afternoon pass by. The wind rustles Makoto’s hair, and Haru feels his heart squeeze in his chest as he watches him, the boy who’s been by his side through every step of growing up, the other half of his soul.

Haru turns to watch the ocean and holds his breath, inching his pinky over until it finds Makoto’s and ducking his head when their fingers brush. Out of the corner of his eyes, he sees Makoto smile at him, then suddenly there’s a warm pressure on his hand as Makoto intertwines their fingers. Haru feels his face grow redder than the sun that’s beginning to set ahead of them, and he buries his head in his knees. Makoto just laughs at him softly and squeezes his hand.

It’s Makoto who says it first, then. He’s always been the better one with emotions out of the two of them, the one who knows when he can or can’t say something, when he should or shouldn’t do something. And sure enough, just as Haru feels his breath shorten and his heartbeat reach through his whole body as he thinks about saying what he wants to say, Makoto says it first, sure as the eye of a storm, firm as an unbroken promise.

“I love you, Haru,” he says. He’s not watching Haru, instead gazing out at the sailboats leaving port and making their way out to sea, and Haru wonders if despite his apparent self-assurance, Makoto might actually be as nervous as Haru feels. The thought makes him want to comfort Makoto, to reassure him that he loves him, too, but the words catch in his throat, stuck by the nervousness that makes his grip on Makoto’s hand tighten. 

“Me too,” Haru says, instead, “I do–too.”

He’s worried that it won’t be enough, that Makoto won’t understand what he means–but he should have known better. Makoto has always known him better. The golden sunlight glimmers in Makoto’s eyes, and he grins at Haru, then tugs at their interconnected hands to pull Haru into a tight hug.

Haru wraps his hands around Makoto’s waist and buries his head in Makoto’s shoulder. He thinks about how safe he feels, with this happiness that brings tears to the corners of his eyes, and wonders about how he wants to feel like this forever.

―

Haru’s in Australia. It’s been a week of firsts–first time leaving the country. First time on an airplane. First time he’s been away from Makoto since they’d met. 

First time he and Makoto had fought.

He sits on the beach, barely registering the feeling of the warm sand beneath him, of the cool of the breeze that blows sea spray over him. He’s scared–scared of a future without Makoto, but also scared of one where he’s too dependent on him. Scared that he’ll never be able to find a balance.

He hasn’t even told Makoto he loves him. 

He takes a deep breath, and looks out at the ocean. It’s calming in a way nothing else is right now–a constant no matter where he is in the world. He can fight with Makoto, and the waves will still break on the seashore. He can make any decision he wants about his future, and the currents will still move the way they always have.

When he finally makes it home, he brings Makoto to the ocean, to the outlook where they’d first raised their voices at each other. He wants to bring peace back to these cliffs, and to draw on that same stability he’d felt from the ocean in Australia in order to say what he wants to say next.

Makoto follows him without question, forever patient, forever understanding. His patience remains even as Haru sits with him on a bench overlooking the sea, staring wordlessly out at the waves and blue sky filled with meandering white clouds.

Eventually, just as the wind picks up and a breeze whistles past, Haru takes a deep breath and gathers just enough courage to say it.

“I love you.” 

Makoto's face breaks into a grin, and Haru watches as his eyes fill with tears. Haru blushes, embarrassed, but grabs Makoto’s hand anyway, intertwining their fingers and holding tight. 

“I love you, too,” Makoto says, and it’s a little watery, and only a whisper, but it feels like the world.

It feels like a new beginning. 

―

They always say the first time they said it was that day in the afternoon summer sunlight, but in truth there is once before, a moment they’ve both forgotten, a time so long ago that the two of them have let it slip from their memories–not for lack of care, but simply because it’s been buried under the piles of moments they’ve shared together, each more treasured than the last, neither of them knowing which memories to cling to stronger than the others. A simple moment sits among the stacks of their memories, a precious one that had felt unimportant at the time, when life was sweeter and simpler and safe.

Makoto and Haru lay together on the floor of Haru’s room, late one summer night so far past their bedtimes that even their parents had gone off to sleep. The fan thumped rhythmically above them, fending off the summer heat and dispelling the silence of the middle of the night. Despite the late hour, neither of them were asleep, their hands on top of each other’s as they both stared up at the fan circling above them.

“I love you, Haru-chan," Makoto had said, breaking the midnight silence. To him, it had been simple–it was a truth, and so he told it. There was no mess of complicated feelings, no need to hide the truth behind other words. He said it as he felt it.

“I love you, too,” Haru said back, and he, too, left it at that, because it was just that simple to him as well. So simple that they’d tucked away the memory of it on an unused shelf, filled with so many of the moments they’ve shared together.

And today, they mirror their selves from the past, lying side by side on the floor of their new apartment in Tokyo. They’re holding hands under the moonlight, still-packed boxes and barebones furniture surrounding them where they lay on the hardwood floors. Makoto’s watch ticks softly in the silence, counting off the seconds that neither of them are paying attention to as they lie still in one another’s company. 

Haru thinks back to years of the past, to backyard games and summer swims and lunches on the school rooftop. He thinks back to falling in love, and how it happened slowly, softly, like the spring warmth after a cold winter.

“I love you," he says, his words barely above a whisper so that they’ll enter the silence gently, kindly. He turns to look at Makoto, and the pale moonlight illuminates Makoto as he turns and gives Haru the smile that still makes Haru’s heart swell in his chest each and every time he sees it. 

The words are no longer a revelation, but rather a reminder–one he’ll say again and again for the rest of his life if he has to, if it means Makoto gets to feel with Haru the way Haru feels with him. 

They’re a promise of years to come, one he'll say as many times as it takes to hold on to what he has now.

“I love you, too,” Makoto says, and their promise is sealed once more.

**Author's Note:**

> me in september: oh yeah this fic isn't due til october, i'm fine  
> me at 3:34PM on october 8th: huh isn't there something i'm forgetting  
> me at 8:41PM on october 8th: OH FUCK
> 
> dw guys, i got it done, it's fine..... it's not like i turned it in at 11:58PM or anything...............


End file.
